Censer
They may consist of simple earthenware bowls or fire pots to intricately carved silver or gold vessels, small table top objects a few centimetres tall to as many as several metres high.
The original meaning of pastille was a small compressed mixture of aromatic plant material and charcoal that was lit to release the odour, and pastille-burners were designed for this, for use in the home.
The use of this class of incense requires a separate heat source since it does not generally kindle a fire capable of burning itself and may not ignite at all under normal conditions.
Finer ingredients tend to burn more rapidly, while coarsely ground or whole chunks may be consumed very gradually as they have less total surface area.
The earliest vessels identified as censers date to the mid-fifth to late fourth centuries BCE during the Warring States period.
Early Chinese censer designs, often crafted as a round, single-footed stemmed basin, are believed to have derived from earlier ritual bronzes, such as the dou 豆 sacrificial chalice.
Among the most celebrated early incense burner designs is the hill censer (boshanlu 博山爐), a form that became popular during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han (r. 141–87 BCE).
These elaborate vessels were designed with apertures that made rising incense smoke appear like clouds or mist swirling around a mountain peak.
[5] The Han dynasty scholar Liu Xiang (77–6 BCE) composed an inscription describing a hill censer: I value this perfect utensil, lofty and steep as a mountain!
It contains rare perfumes, red flames and green smoke; densely ornamented are its sides, and its summit joins azure heaven.
[6]Another popular design was the small "scenting globe" (xiangqiu 香球), a device similar to a pomander, but used for burning incense.
The famed inventor and craftsmen, Ding Huan (1st c. BCE), is believed to have made these with gimbal supports so the censer could easily be used to fumigate or scent garments.
[10] Tao Hongjing (456-536 CE), who edited the official Shangqing canon, also compiled the Mingyi bielu (名醫別錄 "Supplementary Records of Famous Physicians").
It noted that mabo (麻勃 "cannabis flowers"), "are very little used in medicine, but the magician-technicians ([shujia] 術家) say that if one consumes them with ginseng it will give one preternatural knowledge of events in the future.
"[10] Needham concluded, Thus all in all there is much reason for thinking that the ancient Taoists experimented systematically with hallucinogenic smokes, using techniques which arose directly out of liturgical observance.
During the T’ang period, incense was used by upper-class people for personal hygiene, romantic rendezvous, and deodorizing the interior of edifices.
Dating back to the seventh century AD, the kuanhuo (changing of fire) ceremony took place, where people would cleanse their homes with incense.
[16] It is most likely that this practice was inspired by Hellenistic style incense burners[15] as well as the frankincense trade present in the Arabian peninsula since the 8th century BCE.
To insert coals and incense the head would be removed; the openwork geometric design would then allow the scented smoke to escape.
Examples are usually of globular form with three feet, made in pottery, Imari porcelain, Kutani ware, Kakiemon, Satsuma, enamel or bronze.
[20] Used domestically and ceremonially in Mesoamerica, particularly in the large Central-Mexican city of Teotihuacan (100–600 AD) and in the many kingdoms belonging to the Maya civilization, were ceramic incense burners.
These decorations usually depicted shells, beads, butterflies, flowers, and other symbols with religious significance that could to increase rainfall, agricultural abundance, fertility, wealth, good fortune or ease the transition of souls into the underworld.
[23] To identify precious materials such as jadeite and quetzal feathers, important visual markers of status,[22] artists used colorful paints.
[24] Made up of copal (tree resin), rubber, pine, herbs, myrrh, and chewing gum, the incense produced what was described as "the odor of the center of heaven.
In Post-Classic Yucatán, particularly in the capital of the kingdom of Mayapan, censers were found in great numbers, often shaped as an aged priest or deity.
The censer is used much more frequently in the Eastern churches: typically at every vespers, matins, and Divine Liturgy, as well as pannikhidas (memorial services), and other occasional offices.
Liturgical Censing is the practice of swinging a censer suspended from chains towards something or someone, typically the Holy Eucharist, an icon or person, so that smoke from the burning incense travels in that direction.
[27] One commonly sung psalm during the censing is "Let my prayer arise in Thy sight as incense, and let the lifting up of my hands be an evening sacrifice.
In Greek practice, particularly as observed on Mount Athos, during the portion of Vespers known as "Lord, I cry unto Thee" the ecclesiarch (sacristan) and his assistant will perform a full censing of the temple and people using hand censers.
[27] One of the explanations for the great size of the Botafumeiro is that in the early days it was used to freshen the air in the cathedral after being visited by droves of travel-weary pilgrims.
